1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods of instruction, and especially to automated, modular methods of instruction.
2. Background and Related Art
Behaviors that demonstrate learning in a domain of knowledge may be organized into discrete units, and activities designed to instruct and/or assess learning at this level of organization may be created. The component skills demonstrated by these discrete units of behavior are referred to herein as “cognitive constructs.” Subtracting 3 9/16 from 7⅜, for example, involves at least four cognitive constructs: subtracting integers, manipulating fractions, equalizing denominators, and carrying numbers. Behaviors that demonstrate mastery of these cognitive constructs may be elicited in assessments of those constructs, and instructional activities intended to teach these constructs may also be created. States, localities, or school districts typically articulate or adopt expectations (“standards”) regarding what students should know and be able to do at various points in their development. Instructional materials generally teach subjects involving the same cognitive constructs to students. They differ, however, in the organization of those constructs into larger units (e.g., instructional units, chapters), and in the order in which those subjects and their constituent skills are taught and assessed. Learning in different states, localities, or school districts varies therefore not so much in content itself, but in the organization and sequencing of the content. The organization employed by known methods of instruction, however, is not easily modifiable. As a result, the sequence of instruction and the assessment of student skills may not be compatible with the organization of expectations articulated in the standards. A state, locality, or school district that wishes to modify a prescribed order of presentation must resort to skipping around in the prescribed order of presentation. There exists a need for a universal product which is adaptable to various states', localities', or school districts' standards and preferred orders of presentation of core instructional material, and in which the organization and order of presentation is freely modifiable at the option of the state, locality, or school district.
The present invention addresses this need by providing a modular teaching method wherein cognitive constructs are presented in modular learning packets along with assessments and instructional materials such that the order in which the learning packets are presented is freely modifiable at the option of an administrator. The scope of each modular learning packet is preferably organized according to the language of standards, that is, language explaining what students should know and be able to do. The modular teaching method and system according to the present invention is preferably implemented over a computer network allowing the learning packets to be presented to students in an electronic format via computer workstations. While computerized training systems are known, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,485 to Siefert, U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,909 to Ho et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,793 to Ho et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,575 to L'Allier, U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,856 to Lee et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,973 to Ho et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,148 to Stuppy, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,794 to Brown et al., these systems do not include, among other things, a modular teaching method wherein subject matter is organized into component skills, or constructs, described by the language of standards and presented in a modular learning packet along with an assessment and instructional materials.